All things books, all the time

Amazon’s List of 100 Books Everyone Should Read: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

First off, I KNOW you guys didn’t believe my whole thing yesterday about going to the World Cup. Come on. I work weekends. I don’t have anything remotely resembling a rich family or girlfriend/wife. So where the heck would I get the thousands of dollars I’d need to be traveling for two months? The lottery? No.

Back to this post. You guys might have forgotten that I decided to tackle all the books on this list when it was first released in February. This will be the fourth book I read from the list since then and the seventh book I’ve read from it overall. But enough with the pleasantries, you guys probably want to know what I thought of the book.

Fault in Our Stars

I know I don’t need to waste time telling you guys what the book is about because who hasn’t read this book, so I’m not. Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters meet at their cancer Support Group and everything that follows is nothing short of wonderful.

My Thoughts

I’m writing the rest of this under the impression that you’ve read the book, if not, this is your warning to turn your eyes away from the screen. Well, this book has a huge amount of hype going right now. For me, I think it was able to live up to it. Let me tell you the million and one things that I liked about it. LOVED Hazel and Augustus as characters, as a couple, as thinkers, basically everything about them. Loved Hazel’s approach to everything. Loved how they both could quote An Imperial Affliction like no tomorrow. Excuse the language, but I loved how amidst everything that was going on between her and Augustus and her illness, Hazel was able to call Peter Van Houten on his shit. Yes, of course it’s later revealed that he had a daughter who died of cancer at the so very young age of eight, and Hazel changed it up a bit from constantly yelling at him.

I realize my thoughts are just spilling out at random, but that’s okay. I thought it was seriously fantastic that Augustus Waters called her Hazel Grace throughout the entire book even though at the very start she told him just Hazel. And I thought it was great to see that Hazel rarely broke down for any reason during the book. I’m thinking when she lay in her backyard in front of the swing set and of course after Augustus died. Both times guess who ultimately cheered her up, Gus.

Lastly, you all are probably wondering if I cried even though I’ve mentioned that I’m a notorious cryer when reading books. Yes. Just once, at the very end as Hazel is reading what Gus sent Van Houten before he died. This was the line that got me for some reason. I was at 98% on my Kindle.

“-I was wondering if you could write a eulogy for Hazel. I’ve got notes and everything, but if you could just make it into a coherent whole or whatever?”

He was dying and he knew it, and he STILL couldn’t stop thinking about Hazel. I mean, seriously, how freaking great is that? So yes, I cried the whole time as Hazel read what Gus so eloquently wrote to Van Houten about her.

58 thoughts on “Amazon’s List of 100 Books Everyone Should Read: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green”

You knew. I just checked a flight from here to Sao Paulo…$4000! Like I have anything like that working two days a week. Not to mention game tickets and then a flight to Europe. And then staying in different countries for two months. Yeah…no. We’re talking more money than I’ve probably made in my life.

Oh be quiet. YOU KNEW! So I’m not laughing at you even if you did leave three comments on that post.

Well this one was planned a long time ago. I was always going to write it. The other one I just thought of the night before and wrote it. Don’t you dare call me a liar, Writerly Amy. I’ll revoke your nickname.

Okay. This one happened a couple years ago, when I first started working as a PT. I was working in a hospital at the time, treating primarily people with neurological injuries and those in the ICUs.

One of the occupational therapists and I were going to see a patient who’d had a traumatic brain injury. That changes people dramatically. We walk in and try to get him to participate with therapy, but he was being difficult. I don’t remember what insult he threw at the OT, but he looked at me and said, “Damn, you’re ugly!”

I had to hold back my laugh. But I let loose when we left. Hahaha!!! And I wore scrubs everyday, not the most flattering attire, so I couldn’t argue too much. Too funny…

Hmm. I literally tell myself something eerily similar everyday in the bathroom mirror. My hair is crazy long and every time I tell myself to get a haircut, I then tell myself that no one cares about my appearance. Haha. Cause it’s true. Not even I do. I go to the gym everyday looking like I just got out of bed.

I’m not going to deny that I do this occasionally, as well, Wordsmith, but we really shouldn’t. It only breaks us down, it doesn’t build us up. And there’s enough in this world that does that already, so why should we add to it?

I just read this too! I read it on the plane to Fiji, which was a horrible idea because I cried for the second half of the book. I thought it was amazing that Augustus was able to deal with his imminent death so calmly, and that he put Hazel first. HOWEVER (because I love to be the devil’s advocate), I think it was a bit unrealistic that people so young, who knew each other for such a short period of time, had such a phenomenal love. I do not believe that’s realistic. I think that infatuation can happen that quick, especially in teenagers. I really liked that Hazel learned about love and how love influences loved ones in times of tragedy, but I would have found this story so much more believable if they had been in their twenties or thirties. But, then again I am not a romantic.

No debate. People don’t fly across the world to know what happens after a book ends. And Gus literally doesn’t exist. And the timetable for everything is wildly short. The only thing I’ll say is that it’s unfair to say that teenagers can’t be in love. I know like 99% care only about physical appearance, but to say they can’t wouldn’t be correct in my eyes.

Yeah I think we can disagree. I thought Gus felt just as real. Perhaps having that second chance at life which made him appreciate everything. The part that got me in both the novel and movie was when he called her stranded at the gas station. I don’t know why, but that’s when my tears really started flowing.

I think my biggest problem with books to movies is with casting….there are characters I love in the books but I don’t feel like the actor was the right choice for them. I end up liking most of the movies I see that have been made from books I’ve read…I just love the books more.

I haven’t read the book yet, but all my friends are urging me to. I did, though, go and see the midnight premier (which wasn’t at midnight!). It was really good but sad. (The entire theater was hysteric and I had no idea what was going on, due to my lack of reading the book.)

I’m so glad you enjoyed it. You’ve probably seen the movie by now but it definitely lives up to the book. I’m really happy you thought it lived up to expectations but I read it about a year ago and now that everyone is talking about it, it doesn’t seem as good due to all their exaggerations. I only have one problem; it should definitely come before ‘The Hunger Games’ 🙂

No. At no point during or after reading it did I think it was better. There was no “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute.” moment. Or any of the other things that were great in The Hunger Games. The best part of The Fault in Our Stars was the last four or five pages.

It might not have “I volunteer!” But it had “I do, Augustus. I do.” And the best part may have been the last four or five pages but those four or five pages made me feel things that a) I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling and b) ‘The Hunger Games’ could never make me feel
So, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree